Tropical forests often respond analogously to temperate forests even though hurricanes in the tropics can have a much larger range and cause significantly more damage than those in temperate regions. Similar to temperate species, different tropical tree species have different susceptibility to damage, again with conifers more vulnerable than hardwoods (Brokaw and Walker 1991). Also, topography and relation of the site to the path of the storm can dictate the amount of damage to trees within a stand (Zimmerman et al. 1994). Catastrophic winds associated with hurricanes change the structure of many of the tropical forests by increasing the number of gaps (Brokaw and Walker 1991) and alter the composition because the differential abilities of species to reestablish (Walker et al. 1992). Increased accumulation in biomass in the remaining trees and increased microenvironments caused by hurricane rains creating wetter soils also were noted in tropical systems (Weaver 1986).
However, in tropical systems, defoliation is the most common type of damage, then followed by breakage and uprooting (Brokaw and Walker 1991). This exposes the forest floor to high light levels and can cause ultraviolet damage to many of the understory juvenile trees and herbs and allows for the recruitment and establishment of pioneer species (Brokaw and Walder 1991). However, hurricanes also have been noted to have a much more negative effect on pioneer species than understory, nonpioneers because of their high position in the canopy. Thus, nonpioneers initially may be able to reclaim a position in the forest canopy for a period before the pioneers reach the canopy (Zimmerman et al. 1994).
One notable difference between tropical and temperate systems is the way that most trees reestablish themselves in the stand. In tropical forests, most of the species have the ability to sprout from uprooted stems, broken branches, and defoliated areas (Brokaw and Walker 1991; Boucher et al. 1990), thus, many of the tropical trees survive even after they are heavily damaged (Boucher et al. 1990). Part of the quickness of recovery of many trees through sprouting may be attributed to the large influx of nutrients acquired by surviving trees from the extensive and rapidly decomposing litter layer formed by the large number leaves torn from trees during the hurricane (Brokaw and Walker 1991). Also, some species of palm are able to lose their fronds without losing the terminal meristem. This adaptation reduces mortality and increases the resistance of the palm to hurricane damage (Zimmerman et al. 1994).